Tandem Partners gets OK for West Loop mixed-use towers

Tandem Partners secured a key city approval Thursday for its plan to build two apartment towers along the Eisenhower Expressway in the West Loop.

Chicago-based Tandem is proposing two towers totaling 401 residential units on Van Buren Street. One tower, at 1050 West Van Buren, will rise to 21 stories and will have 201 units and ground-floor retail. The other, at 1125 West Van Buren, will be a 24-story building with 200 units, according to city documents.

A rendering of Tandem’s Van Buren Street project

Both towers will have rooftop pools and amenity lounges, according to plans presented to the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday. The commission approved the plans.

The towers will be within 410 feet of a CTA station, qualifying them as a transit-oriented development, which allows for a reduction in available on-site parking. One tower will have 69 parking spaces while the other will have seven, according to city documents.

The building at 1050 West Van Buren falls with an Affordable Requirements Ordinance pilot zone, requiring it to have 20 percent of units at affordable rents. All 20 percent of affordable units will be on site, Tandem Partners officials said Thursday. The other tower does not fall in the pilot zone.

The project sits on the south end of the West Loop, which has seen an explosion in commercial and residential development in recent years. Just last week, the John Buck Company and Lendlease began work on its 590-unit complex at Madison and Halsted streets.

The West Loop also is home to the most expensive ZIP Code for renters in the Midwest, according to a recent RentCafe study.

In July, Tandem and Rambaud Holdings began work on a 23-story mixed-use project along Milwaukee Avenue in River West. The project is set to include 226 apartments, office space and 2,300 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

The developers recently secured a $48 million construction loan for that project.